In Praise of Google Docs

While the work on the wedding website continues this week (I hope y'all are impressed with it--I spent an hour and a 1/2 yesterday on the Accommodation page for Fowey alone), this week it is all about the praise for Google Docs, in (short) list form.

Reasons Why A&E love Google Docs (thus far):

1. Our time, effort, and new skills in Excel have not gone to waste in the guest list/contact list compiling exercises.
2. We can share the UK Guest List, CA Guest List and HUGE Contact List with anyone really, primarily our folks (and we don't have to print them out! Yay trees!).
3. Anyone we share the 'documents' (files) with doesn't have to have a Google account.
4. Multiple people can be viewing, editing and saving those documents at any given time and those changes happen instantly.
5. Alex and I can sit at our own computers in separate rooms and chat and giggle online like old times across the ocean while we edit the lists together.
   

Betcha can't tell which one is my favorite reason...

Two more notes:

• Yes, I did totally co-opt the title of Cheryl Dumesnil's new book of poetry, In Praise of Falling--how did you know!? And yes, you should check it out.
  
• And blog posts are more fun with pictures, so here's an old school one of Alex at her desk at the Ocean House. :D

The Guest List before the Venue

By the time I proposed to Alex on Easter Sunday, everyone in the Crisp house was just ready to celebrate--enough of this waiting stuff, don't even think about planning yet! It was a bit of a different story though when a few weekends later we were down in Fowey again and found ourselves attending a beautiful masked ball at the Eden Project.

Shameless photo opportunity...

The event room overlooked the old clay mine, the gardens and biomes and thoughts of wedding dinners and dances swam through our heads. It could have been a few glasses of wine or adrenaline from all the dancing, but I asked for a venue hire brochure.

While the excitement at the possibility of such a venue mixed with the horror of the cost, Alex's mum asked, 'Well, how many people are you inviting?'

Ha, good question. Half of California and all of Fowey?

Not knowing exactly where to start with who-comes-to-what, we set out to make the biggest list possible of anyone and everyone we could possibly think of that would want to dance at our wedding. (Have I mentioned there will be dancing...?)

We spent our afternoon and train ride home making 'The List' or, as we called it, 'LoveFest Guest List,' including categories like Erica's Family (83), Alex's Family (28), Fowey People, Y-Town, The Ladies (E), Santa Cruz (A), Marin, VIPs (E), London, More to Life, and Ireland. Of course, there were subcategories within subcategories at some points, but Alex's handy Mind Maps (which she uses for her PA studies), well, came in handy.

Behold, LoveFest Guest List:

I'm beginning to really love Mind Maps...

If you're wondering why you can't really read it, even when blown up, it's cause there's a total of 330 names on there. And we're still not sure we got everyone.

While your reaction to a 330 person guest list probably depends on your family's versions of a wedding, I wasn't that shocked: it is a guest list for TWO weddings afterall.

Still, we did just make the 'Basic UK Guest List' which included 153 people getting invites, expecting about 106. (We like to be exact around here.)

So, if you'd like to receive a UK invite--cause it will be pretty--or you would prefer to go international in your celebratory dancing, speak now or in the coming months: next step is to pick a venue that won't be rained out in April.